THE giant tomb of a Iron Age Celtic prince discovered just 100km from Paris in Champagne contains “exceptional” archaeological treasures “fitting for one of the highest elite of the end of the first Iron Age”.
Archaeologists from French national agency Inrap made the find under a 40m tumulus on the edge of a business park at Lavau. Covering nearly 7,000m2 and surrounded by a palisade and ditch, the tomb is larger than the cathedral in nearby Troyes.
Researchers were called in last October after preparation work for a new commercial centre uncovered the find, which dates from the fifth century BC. Agency president Dominique Garcia said it was probably the burial spot of a local Celtic prince as they had found a giant knife.
The major find so far has been a one-metre diameter giant bronze cauldron, with four circular handles decorated with the head of Acheloos, the horned Greek river-god, and eight lioness heads. Inside, a ceramic oinochoe wine jug is decorated with black figures and there is a drawing of Dionysos stretched under a vine.
Inrap says this Greco-Latin wine set is typical of what would have been a centrepiece of an aristrocratic Celtic banquet and was the northernmost found so far. Mr Garcia said it “confirmed exchanges between the Mediterranean and the Celts”.
- See more at: Giant tomb of Iron Age prince discovered with ‘exceptional’ treasures – The Connexion
Archaeologists from French national agency Inrap made the find under a 40m tumulus on the edge of a business park at Lavau. Covering nearly 7,000m2 and surrounded by a palisade and ditch, the tomb is larger than the cathedral in nearby Troyes.
Researchers were called in last October after preparation work for a new commercial centre uncovered the find, which dates from the fifth century BC. Agency president Dominique Garcia said it was probably the burial spot of a local Celtic prince as they had found a giant knife.
The major find so far has been a one-metre diameter giant bronze cauldron, with four circular handles decorated with the head of Acheloos, the horned Greek river-god, and eight lioness heads. Inside, a ceramic oinochoe wine jug is decorated with black figures and there is a drawing of Dionysos stretched under a vine.
Inrap says this Greco-Latin wine set is typical of what would have been a centrepiece of an aristrocratic Celtic banquet and was the northernmost found so far. Mr Garcia said it “confirmed exchanges between the Mediterranean and the Celts”.
- See more at: Giant tomb of Iron Age prince discovered with ‘exceptional’ treasures – The Connexion
